[Abrac]

kwaw, thanks for asking. I wouldn't mind at all. That's why I put it out there, for people to freely use and share.

[kwaw]

Thanks!

[RellufT]

I am not sure if this has been previously mentioned but Waite did refine and alter the FRC Rituals from those published in recent years in two books. The latter are relatively early versions. And while these books are indeed a rich source they do not contain all the rituals, nor are the last version. Waite also wrote rituals for the Grades beyond Da'ath up to the "top". Regarding the Trinick "Great Symbols" Tarot apparently Waite was dissatisfied with Trinick's black and white images for the Fool and the Emperor and another artist, Wilfred Pippet, was asked in 1923 to produce other versions. Unlike Trinick, Pippet was not in the FRC. Possibly because of this, or perhaps because of new priorities after his marriage in 1924,Trinick left the FRC in that year.He continued a successful career as a writer and artist until his death in 1974. For each of the images of the "Great Symbols" there is an accompanying text for the private use of members of the FRC.

[RellufT]

Apologies if this has previously been noted but a lengthy and interesting article was published in the 2014 Volume 3 of "Clavis: Occult Arts, Letters and Experience" entitled 'The Secret Tradition in Silence: Revealing and Concealing the Second Tarot of A.E. Waite', by Stuart Sudekum. Quite a few of the Trinick images are reproduced in colour. I don't agree with all of the writer's observations but it is a well researched paper.

[Abrac]

Originally Posted by RellufT

I am not sure if this has been previously mentioned but Waite did refine and alter the FRC Rituals from those published in recent years in two books. The latter are relatively early versions. And while these books are indeed a rich source they do not contain all the rituals, nor are the last version. Waite also wrote rituals for the Grades beyond Da'ath up to the "top". Regarding the Trinick "Great Symbols" Tarot apparently Waite was dissatisfied with Trinick's black and white images for the Fool and the Emperor and another artist, Wilfred Pippet, was asked in 1923 to produce other versions. Unlike Trinick, Pippet was not in the FRC. Possibly because of this, or perhaps because of new priorities after his marriage in 1924,Trinick left the FRC in that year.He continued a successful career as a writer and artist until his death in 1974. For each of the images of the "Great Symbols" there is an accompanying text for the private use of members of the FRC.

Thank you for sharing. I've heard most of this before. What is your source of this information, Sudekum's article, or something else?

[Abrac]

RellufT, in the Ishtar Publishing book Rosicrucian Rites and Ceremonies of the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, there's a ritual called "The Ritual of Return in Light." As it gets into the text, it starts calling it the "Magus Initiation." Do you know if this is the 9 = 2 initiation, or part of it?

[kwaw]

Welcome to the forum RellufT, and thank you for sharing!

I am reminded of Etteilla, by your board name

As a member of the FRC yourself (which I see from your profile), within the limits of what you may be able to share, are you able to say whether the tree diagram constructed by Abrac from the rituals and information available to him are along the right lines?

[RellufT]

Thank you Abrac and kwaw. I have a copy of the 2 volumes Waite wrote for the O.S.R. et A.C. In this context they contain the rituals for 'Mysterium Briah' and 'Mysterium' Atziluth'. The "Ritual of Return in Light' is not the same as the rituals for Atziluth, although the designation '9=2' is not, from memory, actually used (but I will need to check this and confirm- my memory declines with age). I do not believe these highest rituals were actually used ceremonially but part of Waite's ambitious attempt to capture the full range of mystical attainment. The printed version also differs in minor respects from a handwritten manuscript of part of the same which is headed "The Book of life in the Rose". The bulk of the rituals in the two books printed fairly recently by Ishtar Publishing are to a large degree the same as their last version but there are variations, and as I mentioned, are missing a few. Similarly, between these two versions Waite also had printed individual rituals (e.g. 6=5 and 7=4) in discrete volumes and these too also have minor variations from the others.
Abrac's Tree diagram is certainly along the right lines. With regard to the information about Wilfred Pippet this came from a FRC publication.

[RellufT]

The Waite-Trinick "Hanged Man" is dramatically different from Waite's published version but he basic concept of "The Drowned Man", or "Drowned Giant" was not a result of his own research or ideas but derived from an early Golden Dawn paper which was amongst the G.D. papers of the old Isis-Urania Temple which Waite "inherited" (these papers are now in the Freemason's Museum & Library in London and accessible to the public). This description caused a great deal of excitement between Waite and Dr. Felkin (of the Stella Matutina). Waite utilised and expanded this G.D. description for his Independent & Rectified Rite 6=5 ritual (published in the New Falcon edition of Regardie's "Complete G.D.System of Magic" but it wasn't until the creation of the FRC that the description emerged as a pictorial image. Felkin's 6=5 ritual and Tarot 'Key' reflect the description but to a much lesser extent. As an irrelevant aside a big chunk of Waite's 6=5 was lifted word-for-word (plagiarised) from a ritual written for Florence Farr's Egyptian Order (i.e. that part called the S.O.S.). The only significant change Waite made was the names of the officers in the ritual. Apparently both Waite and Dr. Felkin were initiated into Farr's mysterious Order. The only known and surviving copy of the four rituals for this Order is also in the FM Museum & Library.

[kwaw]

Is there any relationship between Waite's inclusion of Daath, Crowley's Unicursal Hexagram on top of tree with Daath and the cipher/Rosenroth ToL with Daath?

ie, was there a more dynamic or variable notion of the ToL in the inner teachings of the GD and its off-shoots than the "fixed" Cordovero/Kircher one we are all (and at least those of us dependent upon a literary rather than initiatory tradition only) aware of?